•  The RF Story
•  RF memories
•  Red RF routes
•  Routes by date
•  Notes to RF route pages
•  Crew routes 1952
•  Crew routes 1953
•  Crew routes 1955-58
•  Crew routes 1959
•  Crew routes 1960-64
•  OMO routes 1965-69
•  20B
•  80, 80A
•  121
•  136
•  203
•  211 (AV)
•  233 (TC)
•  234B
•  284
•  285
•  290
•  291
•  OMO routes 1970-71
•  Loans and special workings
•  Single-deck routes
•  LT operations - general
•  Local history
•  Photo gallery
•  Red-RF events
•  Other events
•  RF486
•  Contact and links

The first buses over the road from Clapham Common to Lower Kingswood via Tooting, Mitcham and Sutton were 'trips to the country' on Sundays, from 1913.  Running first as 115, then (starting nearer central London) as 178 and finally 128, the route (which operated in summertime only most years) was finally integrated into route 80 in 1933.

Meanwhile, in July 1916, new weekday route 80 was introduced from Clapham Common as far as Belmont California, but was withdrawn after only two weeks.  It re-commenced operation in March 1919, running on weekdays from Charing Cross via Clapham Common to Belmont and worked by Merton Garage.  In June 1920, an extension numbered 80^A was introduced to Lower Kingswood Fox.  The section south of Burgh Heath was covered fitfully by either 80 and 80^A for the first year or so, but in January 1922 the 80^A was reintroduced, covering part of the the former Sutton to Kingswood section of the 113, but diverted to run to Walton-on-the-Hill.  That May, the 80 reached Lower Kingswood on weekdays, replacing the remainder of the former 113 route that had been unserved on weekdays. 

Sutton Garage took over both routes in January 1924, at which time the route was worked with K-types, and has operated the 80 ever since.  At the same time, both routes were shortened to start at Clapham Common and diverted to run via Banstead.  The northern end was reinstated in April 1924 and the diversion removed in April 1927 when the routes reverted to using the main road.  During the remainder of the 1920s, the route used K, S and open-top NS types, with covered top NSs replacing them at the end of 1930.  For the Bassom era, 1924 to 1934, the 80^A was renumbered 180, but reverted on the October 1934 renumbering.

Rural Belmont, a short-working destination, on the last day of RF operation.  RF425 on stand, while another passes.

Photo © John Parkin

In May 1930 as part of a major reorganisation of south London services, the northern end of the routes was cut back to St Helier and instead ran from Morden Station along the new St Helier Avenue.  In December 1931, the Lower Kingswood terminus was moved from 'The Fox' to the forecourt of the 'Canada Hut Tea Rooms' on the other side of the main road.

At around this time, there was a proposal to extend the 80 to Redhill and transfer both routes to London General Country Services, presumably linked with alterations to the 406, but this plan failed due to staff opposition at Sutton.

From January 1935, the allocations were merged into a joint allocation of NSs; STLs also had brief Sunday allocations on the routes in 1934 and 1935, after a brief period of Dennis Lance (DL) working in 196-37, STLs took over full time.

After the outbreak of war, in November 1939, the northern terminus was switched to Tooting, replacing the 88 between Mitcham (St Helier in peak hours) and Belmont.  Morden to Sutton was well-covered by the 157 and 164.  In March 1946, the 80 gained a small extension from Canada Hut to the Mint Arms in Buckland Lane, Lower Kingswood.  The pre-war weekday joint allocation of 8 buses increased progressively to 17 by the end of the war; thereafter Saturdays were for some reason much busier, requiring 30 buses into the RT era.  Utility Daimlers replaced STLs in 1946, lasting until RTLs took over during 1953 (briefly, soon replaced by RTs when Sutton became an AEC garage during 1954; Sutton was already operating RFs on the 213). 

The 80^A terminus remained at The Chequers, but in November 1955 ceased to be on the forecourt, buses instead running on to turn by reversing at Howard Close and standing opposite The Chequers.

With the loss of a conductor to assist in the turns, the 80 was shortened slightly in Buckland Lane, Lower Kingswood, to use a new turning circle at Rookery Way and the 80^A was extended in Walton-on-the-Hill to use a new turning circle at Howard Close.  Other small changes made at the same time included dropping the small detour to pass Belmont Station and (on the 80^A) introducing a diversion to serve Tadworth Station.

By 1969, there were quite a number of spare RFs in store, some having not been used for three years.  It was from this stock that Sutton's allocation was drawn, including the two buses that had been allocated to Potters Bar for the 284.

Since 1922, the 80^A had omitted properly to serve Tadworth, running in via New Road and back along Tadworth Street.  Shortly after the introduction of the RFs, on 24 Jan 70, this was finally rectified and the route was diverted in both directions to run via Shelvers Way and Tadworth Station.

Nothing changed in the difficult years of the early 70s, the RFs continuing to perform well.  The routes were finally converted to Bristol BLs in June 1976.  A few months later, the weekday operations on the 80 were shortened to Belmont and replaced further south by the 280, whilst weekday operations on the 80^A were replaced entirely by the new 280^A, running over the old RT route 80^A from Tooting Broadway.